Tuesday, December 14, 2010

'Tis the season... to buy teacher gifts!

Do you buy your child's teacher a Christmas gift? As a teacher, I received more mugs and Russell Stover candy than I can count but all of it was given with love and thoughtfulness and I loved every single one of them. I still have many of the mugs I was given. Can't say that for the chocolates. The things I loved the most, though, were the cards written by the students themselves. All of that has been very helpful now that I'm buying gifts for my kids' teachers. I can sorta predict what they'll be getting lots of and I try and do something a little different. Each of my kids has two teachers (they are so lucky!) and William is in two different classes so he actually has four. The kids are lucky enough to stay in the after school program a couple times a week and we can't forget them, they love and care for the kids as much as their own teachers. And then there are the directors in the office who also love and take a great daily interest in the kids. We want to acknowledge them as well. You can see how this could get expensive when really all we want to do is let them know we appreciate them and want to wish them a Merry Christmas.

In the past I've done books, like this great one. We've done Starbucks gift cards and flowering plants. This year I did gift bags with my favorite Christmas soap in each. I think giving something that you love is always nice. Obviously not everyone has the same taste but... it's like Oprah's favorite things. You may not be into sparkly Uggs but it's kinda nice to get something useful for free that you know someone else likes and wanted to share that with you. These are two of my favorites that I added in the bags:

Here are the gift bags:

It isn't fancy or expensive but it's something we have at our house and enjoy that we'd like to pass along. The most important part of the teacher gifts, though, is the note each child will write and tuck inside that bag.

2 comments:

Ryan has 3 teachers this year, instead of 2. Last Christmas I gave each teacher a mug with my fav peppermint hot chocolate from cost plus, along with their famous scone mix. you just add water!!! and they have all sorts of flavors. and a target gift card. i'm scaling back this year, each teacher is getting some christmas hand towels and a christmas necklace (made by stephanie). done. last year for the end of school i did straw beach bags, with a beach towel, water bottle, and a gift card to barnes and noble. i was kinda proud of that.

Along with Joelle's card, I'm making these photo/memories book ornament that Ally from CVP taught us, and will fill each page with pictures from the school year so far. Handmade plus pictures - I'm a sentimental nut and would love it if I got something like this.

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About Me

We are Chris, Ashley, Drew, William, and Lauren. Having had three children in four years has been quite the adventure. Chris is a firefighter and a business owner, Ashley is a former teacher who stays home and runs the show, and the kids think they own it all. Life is good.